Integration Symposium 2025

This year’s Integration Symposium will feature keynote speaker Shelly Rambo, associate professor of theology at Boston University, as well as breakout workshops led by Fuller faculty, Fuller students, and ministry leaders. Informed by current research on chaplaincy and urban congregations responding to trauma, the symposium will explore the significance of developing a robust theology and psychology of the human spirit to guide persons and communities impacted by trauma. Dr. Rambo’s keynote addresses will highlight theological and psychological wisdom forged in proximity to trauma. Engaging with spiritual guides, including Rev. Howard Thurman and St. Julian of Norwich, Rambo will illustrate the spiritual condition, focusing on the effects of religious messaging about judgment, brokenness, unworthiness, and exclusion. Q&A and discussions following each lecture will explore implications for clinical and congregational practice for those in various ministry, missions, and clinical settings.

Shelly Rambo is associate professor of theology at Boston University School of Theology. Trained as both a systematic and constructive theologian, she is particularly attentive to the transmission of Christian theologies of suffering from history to the present. She teaches courses in constructive theology, feminist and womanist theologies, trauma theology, and chaplaincy. As one of the pioneering scholars in trauma theology, Rambo has been instrumental in bringing together the emerging field of trauma studies with theological doctrines and practice. She does this through her teaching, publications, and public speaking.

Dr. Rambo’s books Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining (Westminster John Knox, 2010), Post-Traumatic Public Theology (co-edited with Stephanie Arel, Palgrave 2016), and Resurrecting Wounds: Living in the Afterlife of Trauma (Baylor University Press, 2017) explore the significance of Christian theology as it meets contemporary expressions of post-traumatic life in the broader culture. Her current book project, Spiritual Guides for the Afterliving (Fordham University Press, forthcoming), builds on her extensive work with chaplains and collaborations with Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, a hub for education and research in chaplaincy. She is co-editor with Wendy Cadge on a primer for chaplains, Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care in the Twenty-First Century (UNC Press, 2022).

For the past 19 years, Rambo has been educating and training future church leaders about how to respond to trauma by drawing on the organic resources of their theology and faith practices. As principal investigator for the “Trauma-Responsive Congregations” grant, Rambo has been able to partner with 10 congregations to support them in expanding their ministries through greater awareness of and resources with which to respond to trauma. She has supervised all aspects of the grant and organized the program around five goals for congregational participants: identifying trauma, deepening theology, broadening networks of support, and developing restorative and spiritually vitalizing practices that can sustain congregations in ministry. She will write the primer, Trauma-Responsive Congregations, that is currently under contract with Fortress Press and scheduled for publication in 2026.

As we witness people in clinical, classroom, and congregational spaces struggling to recover from harm experienced in religious spaces, it is increasingly important to articulate faithful and imaginative counterpoints to theological messages that impede growth after trauma. This session proposes a theological route for healing and growth by re-engaging spiritual teachers working at the edges of Christian doctrine.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Articulate three types of theological messages that may be traumatizing
2. Offer three alternative theological perspectives to these traumatic messages
3. Consider particular types of interventions to work through theologically traumatizing messaging

Rev. Howard Thurman probed the potential of the human spirit not just to survive but to grow in climates of disregard. This potential lies in claiming a relationship with Life, a message he did not hear in Christian spaces. In conversation with current studies in trauma and moral injury, this lecture explores what Thurman called “the growing edge,” and considers how to nurture spaces of growth. The lecture considers Thurman’s contributions to descriptions of post-traumatic growth as it relates to marginalized communities and those adversely impacted by the broader ecosystem of trauma.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify spiritual challenges unique to particular communities and clients
2. Compare Thurman’s view of spiritual growth to post-traumatic growth
3. Consider particular types of spiritual and clinical interventions for working with clients impacted by racial socialization

9:00 am–12:00 pm: Keynote Address 1
Growing the Human Spirit After Trauma: Challenges and Opportunities

12:00–2:00 pm: Lunch

2:00–3:30 pm: Keynote Address 2
Re-Engaging Your Inner Authority: Rebuilding Spiritual Trust Through the Writings of Julian of Norwich

3:30–4:15 pm: Interactive Dialogue: Moving Through Trauma in Clinical and Ministry Contexts

4:15–5:00 pm: Q&A with Keynote and Respondents

5:00–7:00 pm: Dinner on your own

7:00–8:30 pm: Panel on Trauma and Recovery in Community and Church Settings.

9:00 am–12:00 pm: Keynote Address 3
Coming Alive to Life: Exploring the Growing Edge of Faith Through the Writings of Howard Thurman

12:00–2:00 pm: Lunch

2:00–3:30 pm: Workshop 1

3:30–4:00 pm: Break

4:00–5:30 pm: Workshop 2

5:30 pm: Conclusion
Registration

The symposium is free and open to the public; up to six continuing education (CE) credits are available ($10 per credit for Fuller alumni and $15 per credit for the general public). Registration is required for all attendees and will remain open through the event. When registering, select your CE credits of choice (located under “Add-Ons” on the ticket page). Cancellations/refunds up to one day before the event start date.

At the end of the event week, a survey will be sent out to all registrants. An evaluation form will be available to download on the last page of the survey, along with instructions for submission. Credit certificates will not be issued until an evaluation form is submitted via email to [email protected]. Questions regarding CE credits may be sent to [email protected].

Fuller Theological Seminary’s Graduate School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Fuller’s School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
APA & CAMFT Statement of Approval
Fuller Theological Seminary / Graduate School of Psychology & MFT (Provider#1000085) is approved by the California Association of Marriage and FamilyTherapists and the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuingeducation for psychologists and for LMFT’s, LCSW’s, LPCC’s and LEP’s as requiredby the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Fuller Theological Seminary SOPMFTmaintains responsibility for this program and all its content.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Travis Auditorium at Fuller Theological Seminary, 185 North Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, United States